Prime-Video - Reacher:  A great and spectacular season 1 

By Mulder, 01 february 2022

The first season of Reacher based on Lee Child's novel From the Bottom of the Abyss is being re-adapted by Emmy-nominated Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break), who is also executive producer and showrunner of the series as part of his overall deal with Skydance Television. The cast also includes Malcolm Goodwin (iZombie) as Oscar Finlay, Willa Fitzgerald (The Goldfinch) as Roscoe Conklin, Chris Webster (Most Dangerous Game) is KJ, Hugh Thompson (Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111) is Baker, Maria Sten (Swamp Thing) as Frances Neagley, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) is Jasper, Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) is Charlie, Currie Graham (First Murder) is Kliner Sr. , Marc Bendavid (Dark Matter) is Hubble, Willie C. Carpenter (Devious Maids) is Mosley, Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) is the young Reacher and Bruce McGill (My Cousin Vinny) is Mayor Teale. The series is executive produced by Santora, Lee Child, Don Granger and Scott Sullivan, with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bill Bost of Skydance.

After two excellent action movies with Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher (Jack Reacher (2012), Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)), we suspected that such a character had to continue his crusade against a corrupt society and it is in the form of a series that he continues to exist to our great pleasure. While the two movies were adaptations of the novels One shot (9th novel of the literary saga) and Never Go Back (18th novel), the first season of Reacher carefully adapts the first novel Killing Floor published in 1997. 

It is clear that this mini-series composed of eight episodes allows to stick even more to the original novel. In the same way, the actor Alan Ritchson, with his imposing physique, fits the character of Jack Reacher much better and allows this series to benefit from excellent action scenes. We can also appreciate the presence in the cast of supporting actors Willa Fitzgerald and Kristin Kreuk.

The plot of this first season follows closely the story of the novel Killing Floor and allows to introduce the character Jack Reacher. A former military policeman, he arrives in Margrave, Georgia and almost as soon as he arrives, he is arrested for murder.  However, Reacher did not kill anyone and is here for a good reason to find out what happened to his brother and to help his brother's wife. He also learns that his brother was investigating a counterfeiting ring operated by the Kliner family under the protection of several crooked cops and the corrupt mayor, Grover Teale. 

This first season benefits not only from a great care in the writing of the script but also from excellent action scenes. Alan Ritchson's convincing performance gives this first season a very special aura and makes us really want Prime Video to confirm other seasons to come, as Lee Child's work, with its twenty-six books already published, gives enough inspiration to allow this new series to last.

Reacher also proves to be very effective by constantly avoiding falling into the ways of certain recent blockbusters that mask the finesse of their scenario with a multitude of impressive action scenes. Created as the equivalent of a long movie of almost seven hours composed in eight chapters (each episode forming one of them), Reacher keeps you on the edge of your seat and above all draws a not very flattering portrait of a country where corruption seems to be omnipresent and where a modern hero like Jack Reacher has a lot to do. 

Synopsis: 
Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator, has just returned to civilian life. Reacher is a man with no ties, no phone, and travels with the bare minimum as he decides to explore the country he has long served. But when he arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he runs into a community connected to his first homicide 20 years earlier. The police immediately arrest him and Reacher must fight to prove his innocence and confront a conspiracy against him. He'll have to use his sharp mind and physical strength to get out of it. One thing is for sure: they've picked the wrong person to pin it on.

Reacher
Based on Jack Reacher book series by Lee Child
Developed by Nick Santora
Starring Alan Ritchson, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, Chris Webster, Bruce McGill, Maria Sten, Hugh Thompson
Executive producers: Lee Child, Nick Santora, Scott Sullivan, Don Granger, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison
Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross
Cinematography : Ronald Plante
Production companies : Skydance Television, Paramount Television Studios, Blackjack Films, Amazon Studios
Original network : Prime Video